Parking meter



March 8, i927. 1,620,098

W. A. HOMAN ET AL PARKING METER Filedv June 27. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet l O 'Hlln afl@ .f3

gwuentow March 8 1927. 1620098 W. A. HCMAN ET AL PARKING METER Filed June 27. 1925 g'sheetsheet 2 atroz wagt Patented Mar. 8, 1927.

UNITED STATES 1,620,098 PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER A. HOMAN AND CHARLES rvr. AUSTIN, or DENVER, COLORADO.

PARKING METER.

Application Ied June 27, 1925. Serial No. 39,950.

This invention relates to improvements in time indicating apparatus and has reference more particularly to a mechanism which can be readily attached to an automobile and other machines and which will indicate the length of time that the machine remains idle.

Since the automobiles have become so numerous it has been necessary to limit the time that one may remain parked in one place. The parking limits vary in diierent cities and sometimes in different parts of the same cit-y. It is a very difficult task for the police officers to catch the offenders who park overtime as there is no means for determining the exact time that a car remains parked in one place. The method employed by the police of some cities isfor an officer to make the rounds on several blocks and to mark the cars that are parked. At the end of the permissible parking period, he makes another round and makes note of the cars that remain. This is slow and uncertain and makes it possible to park for almost double the permissible time for those who park shortly after the time when the officer marks the cars.

It is the object of this invention to produce a device that comprises a clock mechanism, a dial and hands that pointto zero when the machine is running and which begins to indicate time from the moment that the machine stops and continues to indicate time until the machine is again put into operation when the hands return to zero.

It is our intention to attach our device to an automobile iii such a position that the dial is clearly visible from the Outside. It will then be possible Jr'or the police officer tO determine the exact length of time the car had remained parked by merely looking at the dial.

Our invention can be best described and will be most readily understood when reterence is had to the accompanying drawings in which it has been illustrated and iu which 1 is a plan view of our improved parking meter;

F ig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 2 2 Fig. 1;

Fio'. 3 is a section taken on line 3 3 1 Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship of the parts;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view corresponding to the view shown in Fig. 3 and shows a slightly modified form of construction Fig. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship of the parts n the modified construction'shown in Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic representation of a modified construction, and

Fig. V8 is a section taken on line 8 8, Fig. 7.

Our invention comprises a casing 1 which may be of any suitable size and shape but which has been shown as cylindrical with a radial extension .2. The casing is preferably divided into two compartments by means of a partition member 3. Secured to the upper surface of member 3 is a clock mechanism that may be enclosed in the casing -;l-. Projecting from the upper side of the casing 4 are two concentric arbors 5 and (i, the former being the hour hand arbor and the latter the minute hand arbor. A clutch disk 7 is secured to the arbor 5 and a similar clutch disk 8 to the arbor 6. Mounted loosely On the arbor 6 between the clutch disks 7 and 8 is a clutch member 9 and mounted loosely on the arbor 6 above the clutch member 8 is a clutch member 10. The hour hand 12 and the minute hand 13 are connected respectively with the clutch members 9 and 10. In the drawing l have shown the Clutch members 9 and 10 provided with grooves 14 which cooperate Vwith the arms 15 and 16 at the end of the lever 17. It will be seen from Fig. 2 that the lever 17 is pivoted at 18 to a bracket 19 and that it has a downwardly extending arm 20 that projects through an opening 2l in the partition 3 and into the chamber below this partition.` A helical compression spring 22 has its lower end resting upon the upper surface of member 2 and its upper end in Contact with the lower side Ot' the lever 17. The spring 22 exerts a force on lever 17 that tends to rotate it clockwise about the pivot 18. ment in this direction being limited, however, by the fact that the arm 20 strikes the bottom of the notch 21. When the lever 17 and the clutch members are in the position shown in Fig. 2, the hands 12 and 13 will not move but will both assume a vertical position like that occupied by the hand 12 in Fig. 1. An electromagnet 23 is secured to the upper surface of the member 3 with its pole 24 directly underneath the The movei lll) armature 25. When this electromagnet is energized, it attracts the armature 25 and moves the lever 1 7 counter clockwise thereby forcing the lower surfaces of the clutch members 9 and 10 against the upper surfaces ot' the clutch disks 5 and 6 with suiiicient.- force to cause the hands to be rotated so as to indicate elapsed time. Underneath the partition member 3 is a locking lever 26 that is pivoted at 27. The outer end of this lever has a notch 28. A spring 29 holds the lever 26 against the side of the lever 20 (Fig. 3). lever 30 is also pivoted at 2T and is normally held against the stop lug` 31, on the end of lever 26, by the action of the spring 32. The spring 29 is slightly stronger than the spring 32 so that the side of the lever 26 will always be forced against the lever 20. The lever 30 is preferably made quite massive for reasons that will presently appear. )Vhen the magnet 23 is energized the lower end of arm 20 will move towards the right (Figs. 2, 3 and 4) and as it comes into line with the notch 28 the force exerted by spring 29 on lever 26 will move the shoulder of the notch into the path of the lever 2U so that the latter cannot return.` until the lever 26 has been moved away from the lever 20. For the purpose of releasing the arm 20 and lever 17, I have provided a ratchet wheel 33 that is pivoted at 34. This Wheel has a number of teeth on its periphery and a pin 36 extendingvfrom one side thereof. The lever 30 projects over onto the wheel 33 to such an extent that its end crosses the locus of the pir 36 -which will therefore engage this lever and move it to the dotted line position (Fig. 3). As soon as the pin moves out of the way o't' the lever 30, the spring 32 will return the lever with a quick movement. As the lever strikes the stop 31, it will move the lever 26 slightly and release the arm 20 which will then be returned to the position shown in Fig. 2 by the action of the spring 22. This releases the clutches and permits the hands to return to vertical position. The ratchet Wheel 33 is rotated with a step by step movement by means of a pawl that has a pivotal connection at 38 with the end of the lever 39. An electromagnet 40 that is located close to the armature 41 serves, when energized, to rotate the lever 39 about its pivot 42 against the tension of the spring 43. This moves the wheel 33 one step. A pa-wl 44 engages the teeth 35 and holds the wheel against reverse rotation and a stop 45 limits the movement of the lever away from the magnet.

The apparatus shown in Figs. 1 to 4 and above described functions in the following manner. )Ve will assume for the purpose of this explanation that the device is to be applied to an automobile and that it is attached to some convenient place like the steering post. A wire 46 extends from the ungrounded pole of the battery 47 to the terminal of the switch 48. This may be the ignition switch in which case the wire 49 leads to the ignition apparatus or this switch may be operated by the clutch pedal or the gear shift lever. 1f it is the ignition switch a separate contact 50 is provided in such a position that the moving contact ot' the switch will make an electrical connection with it when the switch is ino-ved either to on or off position. If the switch is connected to the clutch it is so constructed' that it is normally open but is closed :l'or

an instant When the clutch pedal is moved from operative to neutral position, er vice enters the'notch 28 in which position it will remain locked until the lever 2G is moved against the ten'sion of the spring 29. The arm 20 carries a switch contact 52 that makes electrical connection with the contact 53 when tle arm 2O is held in the notch 28 and thereby connects the stationary contact 54 and magnet 4() t0 the battery 47 through wires 55, 56 and 57. The wire 56 has been shown as connected to arm 20 at the pivot 18 for clearness but it is not necessarily in electrical contact with the arm as it is only necessary that it shall be in electrical contact with the switch member 52. Numeral 58 represents some rotary or movable part of the machine as, for example, the drive shaft of an automobile or a rotatable portion of the speedometer. It must, however, be `so related to the automobile that it can be rotated only when the automobile travels over the road. This inember is grounded and is provided with a contact 59 that makes electrical contact, once each revolution, with the contact 54 thereby energizing the magnet 40 whereby the lever 39 is moved sufiiciently to rotate the wheel 33 one step. Let us nov.' suppose that the driver has moved his car into the proper position along the curb for parking. The hands 12 and i3 both -hang vertical, or point to 12, which may be regarded as the zero position. The driver non' moves the ignition switch from on to ott position, thereby energizing the magnet 23, and moving the hand operating clutches to operative position in which position thev will be held by the action ofthe lever 26. Contact 5; will now make electrical connection with the contact 53. It is evident that the parts will remain in this position until the lever 26 has been moved to unlocking position and that can only be accomplished by energizing the magnet 40 a predetermined number of times. Magnet 40 is controlled by the switch operated by the rotary member 58 which rotates only when the car travels. Let us now suppose that the driver desires to move his car. He closes the switch 48 and starts his engine when the car begins to travel the shaft 58 rotates and causes the magnet 40 to be periodically energized. The wheel 33 is now rotated in the direction 0f the arrow (Fig. 3) by a Step by step movement until the pin 36 comes into contact with the end ot' the lever 30. As the pin continues to move. it will move the lever 30 from full to dotted line position, thereby tensioning the spring 32. lVhen the pin 36 moves to such a position that the lever 30 is released, the latter will be snapped back and Will engage the lug 31 that is connected to the lever 26. The momentum of the lever 30 will cooperate with the action of the spring 32 to move the 'lever 26 suiiiciently to release the arm l2O whereby the hand operating clutches are made inoperative permitting the hands to return to zero. The electrical contact between 52 and will be broken the instant that the arm 20 is released and there will therefore be no further rotation of the wheel 33. It will be apparent from the above that by my device the hands 12 and 13 are connected to the clock mechanism the instant that the. ignition circuit is broken and that they will continue to register time as long as the car remains st-anding whereby the exact length of time that the car has remained standing will be indicated until the car has traveled a substantial distance from the place where it was parked. The distance that must be travelled before the parts are released will be determined by the number of teeth on' the wheel 33 and the ratio between the rotation of the shaft 58 and the rotation of the wheels and can be adjusted to any distance required.

In the above described construction, the mechanism for releasing the arm 20 is mechanical and comprises the lever 30, which must have considerable mass, and the spring 32. It it should be desirable to substitute an electrical means for unlocking the arm 20 this may be done in the manner shown in Figs. 5 and 6 in which the lever 30, stop 31 and spring 32 have been omitted. In their place the locking arm 26A is provided with an armature 60 in close proximity to which is placed an electromagnet 61, one end ot whose energizing winding is connected to the wire 56 and the otheil ot which is connected to the spring contact 62 that projects over the Wheel 33. The wheel 33 instead of being provided with a pin 36 is now provided with a conducting plug 36A that is insulated :trom the wheel somewhat as shown in Fig. 8 Where a similar arrangement of parts has been illustrated. A contact spring 63 lies on the opposite side of the wheel 33 from contact 62. and is connected to ground by the conductor 64. After the lever 17 and arm 20 have been acted upon by the magnet 6l and are held locked by the lever 26A, they will remain in this position until the locking lever 26A has been moved out of locking position. lVhen the car is started the wheel 33 is stepped around in the same manner as above described. As soon as the contact plug 36^ comes into a position in which it connects the contact springs 62 and 63, the magnet 63 Will be energized, thereby releasing the arm 20 and separating the switch contacts 52 and 53 whereby all of the circuits will be opened and remain open until the switch 48 is again operated.

In Fig. 7'I have shown another modification which performs the same functions by a somewhat different arrangement ot parts. The clock mechanism -1 and the clutch mechanism by which the hands are connected and disconnected are the same as in the other embodiments. An electromagnet 65 that corresponds to the eletromagnet 40 iu the other embodiments is fastened to a base 66. A lever 67 that is pivoted at 68has an armature 69 that is attracted b the magnet when the latter is energized. his lever is normally held in dotted line position by means of a spring`70 and has rotatably secured t0 the end thereof a ratchet wheel 71 having a plurality of teeth 72. A ratchet pawl 73 is pivoted to a stationary bracket 7 st and urged towards the wheel by means of the spring 75. The wheel 71 carries a projecting pin 76 which is adapted to cooperate With the lug 77 on the end ot the lever 78. This lever is pivoted at 79 and acted upon by a spring 8O that tends to move the lever into such a position that the clutch members 9 and 10 will come into contact with the clutch disks 7 and 3. At a point diametrically opposite from the pin 7G, there has been provided a contact pin81 that is insulated from the Wheel in the manner shown in Fig. 8. Contact springs 82 and 83 lie on opposite sides of the wheel 71 and are so located that the pin 81 will make electrical contact between them when the pin 76 is in position directly above the lug 77. The battery 47 is connected to thc switch member 48 by means of a conductor 4G. The switch 48 may be the ignition switch and will be so considered for the purposes of this description. Then the ignition switch is closed the conductors 84 and 85 will be charged and current will flow along the wires 84, 86 and 87 through magnet 65 and to ground at 88. The opening and the closing of the circuit at contacts 54 and 59 will have no etfect as they are bridged by the conductors lll.'

llO

84 and 86 that are electrically connected by the contact pin 81. The magnet 65 will therefore hold the lever 67 in the position shown in Fig. 7 until the ignition switch is opened. When the ignition switch is opened the magnet 65 is immediately deenergized and the spring 7() moves lever 67 to dotted line position. This movement breaks the electrical connection between springs 82 and 83 (Fig. 8) and also permits the lever 78 to be moved into a position in which the hands 12 and 13 will be operated by the clockwork. When the parts are in this last described position, the closing of the switch 48 will have no effect as both ot the parallel circuits to the magnet G5 are open. It the machine 'is started then the contacts 54 and 59 will come into electrical contact once each revolution of the member 58 and magnet 65 will be periodically operated as the lever 67 is moved downwardly the pawl 73 will engage one of the teeth 72 and rotate the wheel one step. The first step will bring the pin 76 and the electrical contact pin 81 to a position in which they are ineffective for moving the lever 78 or closing the circuit between 82 and 83. When the wheel 71 has made a, complete revolution the pin 76 will strike the lug 77 and at the same time the contact pin81 will electrically connect the springs 82 and 83 whereby the current will be permitted to ilow to the magnet 65 regardless of the position of the contacts 54 and 59. The clutches operating the hands 12 and 13 will now be inoperative and will so remain until the switch 48 is again opened.

From the above it will be apparent that we have produced a time measuring device by means of which it is possible to measure the length of time that a machine is standing idle. This apparatus is intended primarily for use as a parking meter for automobiles, but can be used in connection with any machine to determine the extent of time that the machine remains idle. It the hands 12 and 13 are so arranged that they do not return to zero at each operation, they will indicate the total time that the machine has been idle and can then be used on lathes, trucks or delivery wagons and can be adjusted to zero in the morning and at night they will show the exact length ot time that the machine was standing still. By an obvious reversal it is possible to have the machine show the time that the maehineivis running instead of standing still.

Having now described our invention, what we claim as new is:

1. In a machine having a member that moves when the machine is in operation, means for causing said member to move and means for causing said movable member to come to rest, the combination with said movable member of a clock mechanism having means :tor indicating the elapse of time, means for causing said indicating means to become operative when the movable member is stopped and means for causing the indicating means to become inoperative and to return to zero position after the movable member has made a predetermined number of movements.

v2. In a machine having a member that moves when the machine is in operation, means for causing said member to move and means for causing said movable member to come to rest, the combination with said movable member ot' a clock mechanism having two concentric arbore, one of which rotates at an angular velocity twelve times as great as the other, a time indicating pointer rotatably connected to each of said arbors, a clutch mechanism between each arbor `and its associated pointer, means for normally holding said clutchmechanisms in inoperative position, means for causing said clutch mechanisms to become opera-tive when the movable member is stopped and means tor rendering said clutch mechanisms inoperative after the movable member has' made a predetermined number of movements.

3. In a machine having a member that moves when the machine is in operation, means for causing said member to move and means for causing said movable member to come to rest, the combination with said movable member of a clock mechanism having two concentric arbors, one of which rotates at an angular velocity twelve times as great as the other, a time indicating pointer rotatably connected to each of said arbors, a clutch mechanism between each arbor and its associated pointer, means for normally holding said clutch mechanisms' in inoperative position, means for causing said clutch mechanisms to become operative when the movable member is stopped and means for rendering said clutch mechanisms inoperative after the movable member has made a predetermined number ot movements, said last named means comprising a circuit interrupting mechanism operated by the movable member, a source ot' current, an electromagnet, a movable armature and a step by step mechanism operated by the movement of said armature.

4. In a device, for indicating lthe time that an automobile remains stationary, having a clock mechanism provided with a shaft adapted to move an hour hand, a second shaft adapted to move a minute hand, an hour hand connected with the iirst named shaft and a minute hand connected with the second named shaft, said hands having a rotatable connection with their respective shafts, a clutch element connected with each shaft, cooperating clutch elements connected with each hand, means for moving said clutch elements into and ont of operative engagement, resilient means for normally hoIding the clutch elements in inoperative position and means for locking the clutch elements in operative position.

In a device for indi -atlng the time that an automobile remains stationary, havingl a clock mechanism provided with a shaft adapted to move an hour hand and another shaft adapted to move a minute hand, an hour hand rotatably connected to the first shaft and a minute hand rotatably connected to the second shaft', a clutch element connected to each shaft, a cooperatingclutch element connected to each of the hands, means for moving the clutch elements into operative position, means for locking` said elements in operative position and means for releasing the locking means, said last named means comprising a step by step mechanism.

6. In a device for indicating' the time that an automobile remains stationary, having a. clock mechanism provided with a shaft adapted to move. an hour hand and another shaft adapted to move a minute hand, an hour hand rotatably connected to the first shaft and, a minute hand rotatably connected to the second shaft, a clutch element connected to each shaft, a cooperating clutch element connected to each of the hands, means comprising an electromagnet for moving the clutch members into operative position and means for locking the parts in operative position.

7. In a device for indicating the time that an automobile remains stationary, having a clock mechanism provided with a shaft adapted to move an hour hand and another shaft adapted to move a minute hand, an Vhour hand rotatably connected to the first shaft and a minute hand rotatably connected to the second shaft, a clutch element connected to each shaft, a cooperating clutch element connected to each of the hands, means comprising an electromagnet fol` moving the clutch members into operative position, means for locking the parts in operative position and means comprising an electromagnetically ope ated step by step mechanism for releasing said locking means.

In testimony whereof We atliX our signatures.

IVALTER A. HOMAN. CHARLES T. AUSTIN. 

